Iuz

Iuz, in his aspect on Oerth] as a human male, from the cover of Iuz the Evil (TSR, 1993).

Game background

Title(s)

The Evil, the Old, Old Wicked

Home plane

Prime Material (Oerth)

Power level

Demigod

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Portfolio

Deceit, Pain, Oppression, Evil

Domains

Chaos, Evil, Mind, Suffering, Trickery, Tyranny

Alias(es)

Vatun (Briefly)

Superior

None

Design details

First appearance

The World of Greyhawk

Settings

Greyhawk

Iuz, (pronounced YOOZ or EE-uz[1]) in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, is the chaotic evil demigod of Deceit, Evil, Oppression, Pain, and Wickedness. Iuz is variously called "The Old One" and "Old Wicked," among other titles. Unlike most Greyhawk deities, Iuz makes his home on Oerth, where he rules a broad swath of the Flanaess known as the Empire of Iuz. Iuz was also named as one of the greatest villains in D&D history by the final print issue of Dragon.[2] His symbol is a grinning human skull, or a human skull with blood-red highlights.

Description

Iuz was originally a strikingly handsome Cambion. In the epic battle that resulted from Graz'zt striking out against Iggwilv in a bid for freedom, Iuz's handsome form was split into two "halves." He can either appear in the form of a gnarled, old human male, or as a bloated, red-skinned demonic figure. In his demonic form, he is seven feet tall, with reddish skin, pointed ears, and long, steely fingers. In his human form, he is barely five feet in height, and can attack with a disgusting spittle that withers all that it touches.

Relationships

Iuz is the Cambion child of the demon princeGraz'zt and Iggwilv, the so-called "Witch Queen of Perrenland." He is an ally, and sometimes lover of, Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungi, who keeps his soul amulet safe in her layer of the Abyss. His half-sister Drelnza, a vampire daughter of Iggwilv, was slain by adventurers.

Iuz is the maternal grandson (by adoption) of Baba Yaga, and through Graz'zt, the half-brother of Athux, Thraxxia, and Arzial. He is also related, through his father, to the demon lords Pale Night, Lupercio, Rhyxali, Vucarik in Chains, and Zivorgian.

Iuz is allied with Graz'zt and Pazuzu, who he must deal with to summon demonic minions in any great numbers. He deals carefully with Lolth, but has no formal alliance with her. Thus far, they seek to dominate very different territories.

Iuz has many enemies, notably Vecna, Saint Cuthbert, Zagyg, and the Horned Society. He hates Keoghtom, Kelanen, Heward, and Murlynd for aiding in his imprisonment, and hates Bigby, Neb Retnar, Quij, Robilar, Riggby, Tenser for trying to kill him.

Realm

Iuz rules from "blood-black Dorakaa," the City of Skulls.

Dogma

The strong should exploit the weak, for such is their right. Deceit and guile are the proper tools of the enlightened ruler. Iuz, who is the strongest and most deceitful of all, is the rightful and destined ruler of all of Oerth. The infliction of pain and suffering is a delight comparable with none other. No atrocity committed in the name of Iuz is so sickening, no trick so cruel, that it does not meet with the Old One's approval.

Worshippers

The worshippers of Iuz seek to further the expansion of their master's empire. Outside the Empire of Iuz, his worship is uncommon and usually suppressed by the local government. Even if a community espouses tolerance toward the Iuzian creed, his followers prefer to remain a secret, as befits the worshipers of the god of deceit.

Clergy

Clerics of Iuz are commonly known as Liars or Oppressors among the faithful. These titles are accepted as the honor it is intended to be; the twisted culture that Iuz cultivates considers these words to be flattering. Often they are multi-classed wizards or fighters.

Iuz's clergy believe in the survival of the fittest, and so battle one another as often as they battle the enemies of their lord. They travel the Flanaess in disguise, seeking powerful magic and captured creatures of great good (or simply their skulls) as trophies to prove their worthiness. They adopt inconspicuous garb outside the Empire of Iuz, but among the faithful they dress in rusty black or white streaked with rust-red stains of blood. Some adorn their robes with bones. Most learn to use greatswords, though whips and flails are greatly approved of for their ability to inflict pain.

The Boneheart

The Boneheart is divided into two tiers, the Greater Boneheart and the Lesser Boneheart. Each tier is populated by six evil spellcasters who use their magic to serve the will of the Old One. Among them are the high priestesses Althea and Halga, who at the top of Iuz's priestly hierarchy. He once had a High Priest, Patch, who was destroyed by the armies of Furyondy during the Greyhawk Wars.

The Boneshadow

The Boneshadow are spies and secret agents. They are six in number: Obmi, Keak, Gleed, Sunifarel Brightrobe, Griswald Hairhand, and Lord Dorag.

Temples

The Old One builds great temples to himself within his empires, but elsewhere his places of worship are small and secret things. Iuz's temples and shrines must be old, filthy, and dark. His altars are built of bones and include many skulls.

In forbidding wilderness terrain, far from the eyes of the forces of Good, Iuz maintains sites for mass rituals, sacrifices, and other foul deeds.

Rituals

The ceremonies of Iuz include the burning of dung and other noxious substances, the beating of drums, and the clang of bronze bells. Blood sacrifice is practiced as often as practical, in as painful and horrific manner as the priests' creativity allows.

History

Rise to Power

Iuz was conceived around 460 CY, shortly after his mother Iggwilv imprisoned the demon lord Graz'zt. He first came to prominence in 479 CY, when the handsome youth gained control of a petty fief in the Howling Hills. Ostensibly beholden to Furyondy, in practice it was independent. It had been left to Iuz upon the death of his "father," a human ruler who had supposedly claimed that Iuz was his son. Almost immediately, Iuz transformed his estate into an armed camp, and began cultivating alliances with the other local lords. Using cunning and guile, Iuz manipulated his "allies" against one another and against stronger opponents, weakening all of the cambion's rivals. Slowly Iuz's forces increased in size as humans and orcs gathered under the banner of the Child of the Evil One. The humans cared little for the orcs, but they liked how their opponents feared the orcish shock troops. Goblins, similarly, began rallying to his cause as well. By 480 CY, Iuz had earned the title Lord of Pain as his conquest began against his weakened neighbors. The atrocities he committed during these early campaigns made it clear to all who witnessed those battles that whoever his parents were, Iuz certainly had no humanity. Before long, Iuz controlled three neighboring fiefs in addition to his original one. King Avras III of Furyondy called his southern nobles for aid against the warlike upstart, but the nation fell into internal squabbling and in the end did nothing to restrain the cambion's ambitions.

Iuz's true mother Iggwilv was conquering Perrenland at the same time, but she found time to aid her son with her magic. Iuz, as a marquis cambion, had magic of his own that he used to great effect in intimidating his followers and enemies. Soon Iuz's capital of Dorakaa had become a charnel house, with a road made from the skulls of the young leader's enemies leading up to it. Watchtowers built along the road by chained slaves were used to burn the living flesh of prisoners en masse. By 500 CY, Iuz had conquered the westernmost Bandit Kingdoms and named the city of Molag his "summer capital." As far away as the Principality of Ulek, contingency plans were drawn up in case Iuz should invade.

In 491, Iuz was present at his mother's court when his father Graz'zt made his bid for freedom. Iggwilv had, at Graz'zt's suggestion, decided to use her pet fiend Tsojcanth to seal an ever-growing hole leading to the Abyss. Tsojcanth rebelled unexpectedly, and as Iggwilv was recovering from his attack, Graz'zt attacked as well. Caught between the uncontrolled magic of both his parents, Iuz was inadvertently split into his human and fiendish halves. From then on, Iuz's once-handsome visage resembled a withered old manikin or a bloated, bestial-faced demon. He took the former form when he wished to put his supplicants at ease, and the latter when he wished to intimidate his foes.

Although Graz'zt was ultimately banished, Iggwilv's powers were exhausted by the melee, and she retreated to other worlds to recover. Without his mother's magic, the progress of Iuz's empire slowed, though it did not stop.

Iuz began the process of transforming himself into a deity, gathering powerful wizards or extra-planar beings beneath the Soul Husks Caverns in the Howling Hills. With horrific magics, he drained them of their power, incorporating them into his own being. He also cultivated an alliance with Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of fungi, laying the foundations of what would become the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Zagig's Godtrap

In 505 CY, Iuz was captured by the wizard Zagig Yragerne and his allies. Along with eight other demigods, he was incarcerated in Zagig's Godtrap beneath Castle Greyhawk until released by Lord Robilar in 570 CY. In the cambion's absence, several "false Iuzs"—illusionists, demons, and demodands with delusions of grandeur—began dividing the empire between them. Further south, the landholders of Iuz's former lands dedicated themselves to the worship of Nerull, Anthraxus, and the Lords of the Nine.

In the meantime, the orcs of the northlands had named him the Old One, and their worship helped increase the demigod's power. Loyal and opportunistic humans joined the cult, and soon some were rewarded with clerical powers in spite of their patron's imprisonment. Uneasy with the growth of Iuz's faith, the southerners joined together to form the Horned Society, making Molag their capital.

Iuz's Return

In the next half-century, the cultists of the imprisoned Iuz had eliminated their rivals in Dorakaa and established a tenuous peace with the Horned Society to the south. In 570, Robilar, his orcish henchman Quij, and the priest Riggby ventured to the Godtrap at Mordenkainen's urging. Using magics Mordenkainen had given them, they freed Iuz with the intent of slaying him. Tenser, Bigby, and Neb Retnar showed up shortly thereafter, and a six-against-one melee ensued. Bigby might have crushed the weakened Iuz to death using his famed Hand spells, but Iuz's magic lashed back at him, leaving Riggby catatonic for days and turning Neb Retnar to evil.

Iuz returned to Dorakaa, slaying impostors, dissidents, and those whose bodies exploded particularly entertainingly, their skulls adding to Iuz's grisly road. Iuz established himself as a living god, and the Oerth trembled.

Though aware of the return of his nation's old foe, King Belvor IV of Furyondy ignored it at first, concentrating on uniting the quarreling factions within his own country. Iuz, for his part, spent some time ensuring he had absolute mastery of his kingdom before making his next move.

The Greyhawk Wars

That move came in 582 CY, when a band of barbarian heroes—Stumred Barduran, Baern Barraeth, Fenestir "Swifthand" Galander, Ingrid Hashandir, Sabrala Starbreaker, and Helden Stormfist—reunited the legendary Blades of Corusk. The mage Karasten Meldraith arranged them in an alternating pattern, uncovering a spell hidden in the runes of the blades. Before he could finish reading the spell that would awaken the lost god Vatun, however, Iuz manifested in Vatun's guise, scattering the blades to the four corners of the world. The whole episode had been a set-up by the clever Fiend of the North. With a guileful tongue, Iuz convinced the rulers of the Fruztii, Schnai, and Cruski, and the raiders of the Hold of Stonefist, that he was the Great God returned. At his direction, the Fists invaded the Duchy of Tenh, decimating its armies and driving the Duke and Duchess to exile in the County of Urnst.

The alliance did not last long. The Suloise barbarians resisted "Vatun's" orders to invade the Bone March and Ratik. Eventually they refused to believe Iuz was their Great God at all, but the damage had already been done: Stonefist was firmly allied to Iuz's cause.

Iuz returned to Dorakaa in 583. During his absence, his chaotic empire had already begun to disintegrate. Iuz responded by executing the exiled Furyondian nobles who had been his vassals and replacing them with things from the Abyss—nabassu, cambions, vrocks, hezrou, and mariliths. His mother, using her Nethertome, summoned many demons to bolster her son's armies, but this resource soon ended when she attempted for the second time to summon Graz'zt himself. This time Graz'zt was prepared for her arts, arriving in her protective circle with a device that disrupted it. Smiling wickedly, Graz'zt seized the shocked Mother of Witches and dragged her back to his Abyssal realm to torment her at his leisure. Iuz continued to gate in summoned demons, but from then on he did so only with the permission of his demon lord allies Pazuzu and Graz'zt. Graz'zt had the upper hand in these dealings, holding Iuz's mother hostage as he did. Yet Iuz knew that Iggwilv craved only her own power, and might well have turned against him had she been free, so his feelings on the matter were complex. Iuz dealt regularly with Lolth as well, though they made no formal alliance. Lolth's ambassador to Iuz's court, Eclavdra, served Lolth and Graz'zt simultaneously at the time, with all parties involved being well aware of this.

On the night of the Blood Moon Festival of that year, Iuz struck against the Hierarchs of the Horned Society, his agents slaughtering all but two of them (who were away at the time) and adding the Horned Lands back to his growing empire. With the hobgoblin warriors of the former Horned Society bolstering his own troops, Iuz swept into the Shield Lands in the Flocktime of the following year. Perhaps the Shield Lands could have resisted, but they refused to allow the Furyondians to aid them, fearing re-annexation by their former Furyondian rulers. The Shield Lands were conquered, and Iuz moved on to the borders of Furyondy. Worse yet for the forces of Good, Iuz had managed to acquire an alliance with Ket, who had long born a grudge against the peoples of the Sheldomar Valley. With Ket flanking them on one side and Iuz attacking on another, the defenders were hard pressed to resist. At the same time, Lolth manipulated hordes of giants into invading Geoff and Sterich, distracting the peoples of the Sheldomar still further.

Somehow, despite losing much of its northern territories and the Vesve, Furyondy managed to hold. With tens of thousands of his troops slain, Iuz agreed to the sign on to the Pact of Greyhawk. He would consolidate his gains for a time before striking anew.

The Great Northern Crusade

Before this could happen, however, Iuz's armies were hobbled by the Crook of Rao, directed by Canon Hazen to perform a miracle no one, least of all Iuz, had dreamed it capable of. The vast majority of the fiends in Iuz's armies were banished for a hundred years. After the Flight of Fiends, as it became known, many of Iuz's generals and subjugated populations rebelled. Furyondy gained back most of its territories in what was named the Great Northern Crusade, and Iuz neglected the Rovers of the Barrens and the Bandit Kingdoms to war against Furyondy.

Recent Developments

In 597, Iuz attempted to invade the Free City of Greyhawk using a passage in the Underdark leading from his lands all the way to the caverns beneath Greyhawk Castle. Before his plans could be completed, however, he was trapped again in Zagyg's Godtrap by a simulacrum of his mother Iggwilv, who hoped to use his power to make herself into a true living being. Iggwilv's simulacrum was defeated by a party of adventurers, however, and a weakened and chastened Iuz returned to his lands to plot anew.

Publication History

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition (1977-1988)

Iuz was first mentioned in the Greyhawk campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons game in the original World of Greyhawk folio (1980),[3] and was then described in "The Deities and Demigods of the World of Greyhawk" by Gary Gygax in Dragon #67 (1982).[4] Iuz was subsequently detailed in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1983),[5] and in Greyhawk Adventures (1988).[6]

Iuz played a prominent role in the module, The Temple of Elemental Evil (1985).[7]

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition (1989-1999)

Iuz was one of the deities described in the From the Ashes set (1992), for the Greyhawk campaign,[8] and appeared again in Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (1998).[9]

The realms of Iuz were described in the accessory Iuz the Evil (1993),[10] and are further detailed in the adventure anthology The City of Skulls (1993).[11]

His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).[12]